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Recovering iconic Oregon bird is lecture topic

SAL
Published 3:48 p.m. PT March 13, 2014

European starlings and habitat loss are the main suspected culprits in the decline of the once-thriving purple martin in the Willamette Valley
(Photo:
Photo courtesy of Oregon Wildlife
)

The purple martin, a bird that once was ubiquitous throughout the Willamette Valley but is in steep decline, will be the next topic in the Discovering Wildlife Lecture Series next Wednesday in Portland.

The series is sponsored by the non-profit conservation and education group Oregon Wildlife.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. at the Billy Frank Jr. Conference Center in the Ecotrust Building, 721 NW Ninth Ave.

Cost: $5 to cover the group’s expenses.

Reservations are available at http://bit.ly/1cVQS9p

Martin populations have been in free-fall since the 1940s, with the declines blamed in large part to the arrival of European starlings and habitat destruction. Martin colonies are found now at only a few locations in the Willamette Valley, along the coast and at sites near the Columbia River.

“Conserving Purple Martin in the Willamette Valley” will present efforts since 2011 by the Oregon Wildlife Institute and its partners to conserve a small colony of martins on Oregon State University’s Dunn Forest.

That colony is one of very few in North America in which martins continue to use snags for nesting.

The project includes using starling-resistant nesting structures to stabilize the colony. Once that has been accomplished, project organizers expect that martins returning in the spring to nest in snags that have been left standing on harvested areas on the experimental forest.